1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to devices and methods that are used to separate molecular hydrogen from a volume of gas. More particularly, the present invention is related to methods and devices that separate hydrogen from a volume of gas by exposing the gas to a hydrogen permeable material through which only atomic hydrogen can readily pass.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In industry there are many applications for the use of molecular hydrogen. However, in many common processes that produce hydrogen, the hydrogen gas produced is not pure. Rather, when hydrogen is produced, the resultant gas is often contaminated with water vapor, hydrocarbons and other contaminants. In many instances, however, it is desired to have ultra pure hydrogen. In the art, ultra pure hydrogen is commonly considered to be hydrogen having purity levels of at least 99.999%. In order to achieve such purity levels, hydrogen gas must be actively separated from its contaminants.
In the prior art, one of the most common ways to purify contaminated hydrogen gas is to pass the gas through a conduit made of a hydrogen permeable material, such as palladium or a palladium alloy. As the contaminated hydrogen gas passed through the conduit, atomic hydrogen would permeate through the walls of the conduit, thereby separating from the contaminants. In such prior art processes, the conduit is kept internally pressurized and is typically heated to several hundred degrees centigrade. Within the conduit, molecular hydrogen disassociates into atomic hydrogen on the surface of the conduit and the conduit absorbs the atomic hydrogen. The atomic hydrogen permeates through the conduit from a high pressure side of the conduit to a low pressure side of the conduit. Once at the low pressure side of the conduit, the atomic hydrogen recombines to form molecular hydrogen. The molecular hydrogen that passes through the walls of the conduit can then be collected for use. Such prior art systems are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 5,614,001 to Kosaka et al., entitled Hydrogen Separator, Hydrogen Separating Apparatus And Method For Manufacturing Hydrogen Separator.
Conduits made of palladium and palladium alloys are highly expensive. As such, it is highly desirable to use as little of the palladium as possible in manufacturing a hydrogen gas purification system. However, in the prior art, the conduits made from palladium and palladium alloys hold gas under pressure and at high temperatures. Accordingly, the walls of the conduit cannot be made too thin, else the conduit will either rupture or collapse depending on the pressure gradient across the wall of the conduit.
A typical prior art conduit made from palladium or a palladium alloy would have a wall thickness of approximately 89 .mu.m. The thickness of the wall of the conduit is directly proportional to the amount of purified hydrogen that passes through that wall in a given period of time. As such, in order to make the conduit more efficient, a thinner wall is also desirable. However, as has already been stated, a conduit wall cannot be made so thin that it ruptures or collapses under the pressure of the gases being passed through that conduit.
To further complicate matters, conduits made from palladium and palladium alloys may become less efficient over time as the interior walls of the conduits become clogged with contaminants. In order to elongate the life of such conduits, many manufacturers attempt to clean the conduits by reverse pressurizing the conduits. In such a procedure, the exterior of the conduit is exposed to pressurized hydrogen. The hydrogen passes through the conduit wall and into the interior of the conduit. As the hydrogen passes into the interior of the conduit, the hydrogen may remove some of the contaminants that were deposited on the interior wall of the conduit.
Due to the generally cylindrical shape of most prior art hydrogen purification conduits, the conduits are capable of withstanding a fairly high pressure gradient when the interior of the conduit is pressurized higher than the exterior of the conduit. However, when such conduits are cleaned and the external pressure of the conduit is raised higher than the interior pressure, a much lower pressure gradient must be used, else the conduit will implode.
In the prior art, improved conduit designs have been developed that attempt to minimize the amount of palladium used in a conduit, yet increase the strength of the conduit. One such prior art device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,699,637 to Iniotakis, entitled Hydrogen permeation membrane. In the Iniotakis patent, a thin layer of palladium is reinforced between two layers of mesh. The laminar structure is then rolled into a conduit. Such a structure uses less palladium, however, the conduit is incapable of holding the same pressure gradient as solid palladium conduits. Accordingly, the increase in efficiency provided by the thinner palladium layer is partially offset by the decreased pressure limits, and thus gas flow rate, that are capable of being processed.
Another prior art approach to limiting the amount of palladium used is to create membranes that are placed over apertures, like a skin on a drum. A pressure gradient is then created on opposite sides of the membrane, thereby causing hydrogen to flow through the membrane. Such prior art systems are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 5,734,092 to Wang et al., entitled Planar Palladium Structure. A problem associated with such prior art systems is that the palladium or palladium alloy membrane is typically positioned in a level plane, wherein a pressure gradient exists from one side of the membrane to the other. Since the membrane is flat, it has little structural integrity when trying to resist the forces created by the pressure gradient. Accordingly, in order to prevent the membrane from rupturing, solid perforated substrates are used to reinforce the membrane. The solid perforated substrates, however, are complicated to manufacture, restrict the flow through the membrane, and reduce the efficiency of the overall system.
A need therefore exists in the art of hydrogen purification for a system and method that can handle high flow rates of gas, per unit area, and yet uses only a minimal amount of hydrogen permeable material. A need also exists for a hydrogen purification system capable of withstanding large pressure gradients in opposite directions.